Four Reasons to Believe the Falcons Can Exceed Expectations This Season

Wednesday is a pivotal day for the Atlanta Falcons and the new regime up in Flowery Branch because the 2026 season is officially underway. Training camp officially begins, so attention can look ahead to what this team could accomplish in Kevin Stefanski’s first season as head coach.

The national perspective of the Falcons paints a bleak picture, with the franchise projected to win a meager 7.5 games this season – extending the franchise’s eight-year playoff drought and consecutive seasons without a winning record.

While there are plenty of fair reasons to have doubts about the team heading into this season, training camp is a time for hope. So, Falcons OnSI put together four reasons to be optimistic about what the Falcons could accomplish this season.

Experienced Coaching Staff Takes Over

Kevin Stefanski leads a new offensive coaching staff in Atlanta, with much more experience than the franchise had before.

Previously, the Falcons had only one staff member with offensive playcalling experience, and that was offensive coordinator Zac Robinson. Unsurprisingly, it often felt like he was on an island, and Raheem Morris was left with no better option when the offense struggled.

Stefanski will not be repeating that mistake. New offensive coordinator Tommy Rees will be supported by an abundance of playcalling experience, led by quarterbacks coach Alex Van Pelt, passing game coordinator Tanner Engstrand, offensive line coach Bill Callahan, and Stefanski himself.

As for the defensive staff, the Falcons have retained their coordinator for a second season for the first time since 2022, and Jeff Ulbrich managed to elevate this unit last season. With a strong secondary bolstering the entire defense, the Falcons set a franchise record for sacks in a single season. With him calling the plays, plus the majority of his staff returning, there is plenty of reason to be optimistic that the unit could build on a successful 2025.

Overall, this could be one of the better-coached teams the Falcons have had in quite some time.

Top-Level Talent Is Enough To Win Now

Ian Cunningham and the new-look Falcons front office spent all offseason “raising the floor,” but mostly because the ceiling-raisers are already on the roster.

Bijan Robinson, Kyle Pitts Sr., Drake London, Jessie Bates III, and A.J. Terrell Jr. are just a few of the established impact players who are under contract and have consistently been among the top overall players at their positions. With these players leading the charge, the Falcons will have some All-Pro-caliber players to drive results.

But several other ‘breakout’ players are expected to take the next step this season, led by an outstanding crop of second-year players. Jalon Walker, James Pearce Jr. (pending a decision from the NFL), and Xavier Watts are all going to take on elevated roles. At the same time, players like Brandon Dorlus, Divine Deablo, Zach Harrison, and others feel primed to break out (at least from a national perspective).

There is plenty of top-end talent on this roster, but health and poor quarterback play have limited the Falcons over the last several seasons.

Special Teams Have Been Figured Out

The Falcons were 0-5 in one-score games before getting eliminated from the playoffs in Week 14, and special teams had a lot to do with that. Muffed punts, dreadful kick and punt coverage, missed field goal and point-after attempts, and a nonexistent return game doomed the Falcons on several occasions.

Unsurprisingly, Ian Cunningham made overhauling the special teams a priority this offseason, adding hyper-accurate kicker Nick Folk, a booming punter in Jake Bailey, an electric returner in Zachariah Branch, and several other promising rookies, too. These players should give new special teams coordinator Craig Aukerman plenty to work with.

The Falcons Play In a Winnable Division

Over the last several years, the NFC South has consistently been one of the NFL’s lesser-performing divisions. Just last season, the Panthers secured a postseason berth after finishing 8-9, overcoming a few tiebreakers with the Falcons and Buccaneers.

Even after a busy offseason in which the Panthers and Saints added expensive assets in free agency, the division feels wide open. The Buccaneers will be looking to show the division still runs through Tampa, having won four of the last five titles, but the Falcons have the talent to be right in the middle of things again this season.

All four teams could make a reasonable argument that they could be the team to beat, but the same could be said about why the bottom could fall out for each of them. No matter what happens in the division, it should be an entertaining ride.

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